Environmental protections under threat after Supreme Court ruling
Many people don’t understand how important the regulatory work of the Environmental Protection Agency is to working Americans. I understand personally how its regulations can save lives. Sadly in the case of my dad, they came too late.
My dad was an electrician for 40 years. He was part of the Greatest Generation, dropping out of high school after the attack on Pearl Harbor and serving in the Navy during World War II. He came home to Illinois and worked for Pillsbury Mills in central Illinois for more than 40 years.
He retired at 62 and was looking forward to spending time with his grandchildren, golfing and traveling with my mom. Within a few months of retirement he started to notice symptoms of what would become mesothelioma, a deadly cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. My dad died just after he turned 65, never getting to enjoy retirement.
The EPA ensures that dangers like those caused by asbestos exposure are not concealed and that companies can be brought to justice for exposing the public to dangerous substances.
The U.S. Supreme Court recently overturned the Chevron doctrine that allows for experts to make decisions for federal agencies and delegated that authority to themselves. It is now open season on the environment and the agencies that protect our air, water, workplaces and public health.
We need U.S. Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to do what he can to hold the Supreme Court accountable. You can fill out the form at www.durbin.senate.gov and ask him to hold this unelected court accountable.
Environmental regulations have the capacity to save lives, which should be valued much more than profits. I believe that my dad would agree. I know his family does.
Kate Refine, Naperville
We must curb the Supreme Court and halt Trump’s future plans
It’s been a little over two years since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the most fundamental personal freedom that women have over their own bodies in the Dobbs decision. Many states, including some of our neighbors, now have total abortion bans. As appalling as that is, this extremist court is not done eliminating fundamental personal freedoms.
According to the plan for a second Trump term known as Project 2025, a national ban on abortion and IVF, restriction of contraception and the criminalization of medication abortion are in the works should he win election in November. The plan also proposes using the Centers for Disease Control as a surveillance network to monitor abortions nationwide to restrict reproductive freedom in states where it is still currently legal.
The goals of Project 2025 will be achieved by gutting our system of checks and balances, consolidating power into the hands of the president and weakening federal agencies. Recent rulings by the Supreme Court handed Trump sweeping immunity (Trump v United States), and in the Loper Bright case, the court kneecapped the federal agencies that make decisions and issue regulations based on science and our fundamental rights.
The Supreme Court also stalled decisions on two abortion cases (mifepristone and EMTALA) until after the November election. Having weakened the federal agencies and given themselves the power to make these decisions, it’s hard to imagine that they won’t criminalize abortion, like they criminalized homelessness this term.
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, should do what he can to hold the Supreme Court accountable. We need the Senate to take up the Supreme Court Ethics Recusal and Transparency Act, the judiciary act to reform the Supreme Court, and to issue subpoenas where necessary. Go to www.durbin.senate.gov and ask Durbin to hold this unelected court accountable.
(Source: Ragland, Will and Radosevich, Joe. “Project 2025: The Plan to Seize Power by Gutting America’s System of Checks and Balances.” Center for American Progess, 7/8/2024, www.americanprogress.org/article/project-2025-the-plan-to-seize-power-by-gutting-americas-system-of-checks-and-balances.)
Nancy Turner, Dianne McGuire, Lyndsey Kokoris, Paulette Goodman, Lisa Yost, Beth Wendt, Jean Page and Rebecca Gamboa
Indivisible Naperville Leadership
Project 2025 a manifesto for ending democracy as we know it
We’re hearing a lot these days about a document popularly known as Project 2025, whose complete title is “Mandate for Leadership, the Conservative Promise, Presidential Transition Project 2025,” put together by the Heritage Foundation with support from 100 conservative organizations, such as the NRA, Moms for Liberty and the Tea Party Patriots.
So, what’s in this 900-page manifesto funded with contributions from many Donald Trump allies and former administrative officials? According to an article written by Jeff Raikes in Forbes magazine, better known for its business and investment news, the document is “essentially advocating for the end of our democracy and the economic prosperity it drives.”
When we hear the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party excoriating his political opponents as “vermin,” when we hear him promising mass deportation of 15 million to 20 million immigrants, when we hear him lying about abortion in a presidential debate, we should consider that with the 2025 document, he has a blueprint to help him execute his promises.
What makes this “blueprint” unique and dangerous is the plan to implement “Schedule F,” which will strip federal civil service employees in policy positions (loosely defined) of their civil service protections and make them “at will” employees, thereby ensuring that the wheels of government will be greased to facilitate the president’s directives. The 2025 Presidential Academy and Training is recruiting individuals, even as you read this, to be ready to go on Day 1 to make sure Trump loyalists are on the job!
By now, you may have heard about the federal departments that would be abolished, including the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Federal Reserve, even the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which oversees the National Weather Service among other things.
Project 2025 rolls back protections for LGBTQ Americans, weakens Social Security and Medicaid, stops efforts to lower prescription drug prices … you get the picture. Let’s make sure 2025 is not the blueprint for America.
Dianne McGuire, Naperville
Prospect of Project 2025 becoming reality a terrifying thought
I’m terrified, to say the least, about the potential for the GOP’s Project 2025, which wants to rip away my human rights. Many believe opposition to Project 2025 is a liberal stance on a conservative proposition, but this is much more than a partisan issue; it risks many of the institutions in our democracy meant to protect us.
Let’s break down why. First, Project 2025 aims to impose not only a national abortion ban, but to reverse the FDA’s approval of abortion bills, restrict birth control, IVF and even sexually transmitted disease testing. Pro-choice proponents must not be mistaken for left-wing citizens. We must recognize that maintaining abortion and reproductive rights will allow for “pro-lifers” to choose to not undergo abortion if they so choose but not restrict those who would like or require abortion to be denied it.
In addition, Project 2025 aims to eliminate various government agencies, including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and even the U.S. Department of Education. The plan’s ulterior motive is to redirect public funding to private and religious institutions, the precise opposite of fiscal policy institutions.
I am the vice president of the Illinois State Board of Education’s Career and Technical Student Organizations’ (CTSO) Student Board, which advocates for increased funding for Career and Technical Education. At the State Board of Education’s Career Connections Conference last month, it was mentioned that President Biden and the U.S. Department of Education provided millions of dollars in funding for our state this year to increase apprenticeship programs, technical courses and the Career and Technical Student Organizations of which I am an active member.
It is disheartening to imagine that the financial support that we have received in our public schools may not be available for our underclassmen and future generations of students. As a female and a student, I am truly hoping that this plan will not be our future reality.
Sanvi Maganti, Naperville
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